Clothes dryer



May 28, 1957 M. BROUSSARD CLOTHES DRYER Filed April 15, 1953 Mm o BROUSSARD INVENTOR.

United States Patent ()flice 2,793,762 Patented May 28, 1957 CLOTHES DRYER Mayo Broussard, Los Angeles, Calif. Application April 13, 1953, Serial No. 348,369 2 Claims. (Cl. 211-413 This invention relates generally to holders or supporting devices and more particularly to a hanger device for supporting textile articles. Specifically, the invention pertains to a hanger designed for use in supporting small light-weight articles of apparel, such as womens under-v garments and stockings, to facilitate drying of the articles following the washing thereof.

When washing womens lingerie and undergarments and other delicate and sheer articles of apparel, it is the common practice to perform the washing operation manually within a suitable small tub or other receptacle and frequently in the wash basin of a bathroom. Following the washing and rinsing operations, the articles are hung up to dry within the home, it being common knowledge that when such delicate articles, such as lingerie, scarfs, sheer stockings, etc., are hung on an outside line in the atmosphere they are subject to deterioration due to the suns rays and other climatic conditions. Moreover, unless the articles are held firmly against blowing, their extremely delicate filaments may become broken by catching against adjacent objects to cause runs in the fabrics. such a condition, the washed articles are frequently draped To obviate over a towel rack or over a shower curtain rod in the bathroom. This method of drying the dainty lingerie and other articles has several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the space available on the rods is limited and may be insufiicient to support the required number of articles to be dried. Another disadvantage is that such rods, which are usually made from glass or plated metal, have highly polished surfaces so that the articles draped over them are quite apt to slide oif to become soiled or damaged.

It is an object of my invention to obviate the condil tions referred to above by providing a holder or support by which a plurality of small light-weight textile articles may be held in position to enhance drying of the articles following their washing.

Another object is to provide a holder device which embodies means by which the articles are suspended to be dried, the entire device being constructed from a resilient material, .such as rubber or plastic, so as to avoid hard, sharp edges liable to. cut or otherwise damage the delicate filaments of the textile fabrics;

Another objectof the invention is to provide a holder or support device which includes readily releasable clamping means for retaining the articles connected to the device.

Another object is to provide a device, of the character textile material through the opening, the inherent resiliency of the retainer tab urging it toward a coplanar relation with respect to the sheet, the tab thus tending to close against the article draped through the opening to resist accidental displacement thereof from the device and being readily pressed into the opening without injury to the article, but yielding under manual force applied thereto to allow withdrawal of the article. During the punching of the openings, the resilient material yields so that the tongues or tabs have outlines which are as large as, or larger than, those of the corresponding openings. By this provision, flexing of the tabs through the openings is resisted so that the tabs remain in place when pressed into the openings to effectively clamp the articles securely but lightly in the holder.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hanger or holder device, of the class referred to, which is so constructed that it may be mounted for use upon a towel bar or shower curtain rod or used in connection with a conventional clothes hanger, as desired, the device preferably consisting of a pair of vertical, parallel, rectangular, resilient sheets having the openings and clamping tongues or tabs. In accordance with the invention, the upper longitudinal edges of the sheets are joined by integral straps which are adapted to rest upon the supporting bar, rod or clothes hanger to suspend the device therefrom. By this means, the device may readily be mounted for use by simply draping or hanging it over any desired horizontal bar or other support.

A further object of the invention is to provide a holder device of the type indicated in which the side elements are perforated to allow circulation of air therethrough, so as to expedite the drying of the articles held by the device.

Still further objects of the invention are to provide a holder device which is extremely simple in construction and inexpensive to produce, the one piece item being adapted for mass production by a simple molding operation, followed by a punching operation; one which is light in weight; one which lasts indefinitely without deterioration; and one which is highly resilient to adapt it to be folded or rolled into a compact size for packaging purposes and for carrying in a bag or suitcase.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the following description and from the drawing, which is intended for the purpose of illustration only, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the holder device, showing it applied to use in connection with a conventional clothes hanger; and

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view through the device, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the holder device includes a pair of -sheet-like side members 5 and 6 of rectangular shape. The side members 5 and 6 preferably, although not necessarily, are provided with peripheral flanges or beads 7 on their facing surfaces to reinforce them. Formed integrally with and extending between the upper edges of the side elements 5 and 6 are connecting straps 8 which may be spaced longitudinally of the device substantially as shown. 7

The entire device, including the side members 5 and 6 and the straps 8, is constructed from a resilient material, such as rubber or plastic, it being desirable to cut it from. sheet material or to mold the material so as to minimize oval portion 13 and an upper reduced neck portion 14. The openings 12 are formed by a separate punching operation following the molding of the article, the openings being punched either simultaneously by multiple punches and dies, or singly.

As shown, the upper neck portion 14 of each opening 12 is not cut away but rather is left-intactto provide the upper, reduced portion of a tongue or tab 15-which is the material punched or displaced from the opening and therefore of the same configuration. I have found that due to the resiliency of the material, during the punching of the openings the material yields to allow initial stretching, the result being that the tongues or tabs 15 overlap the respective openings slightly and may be pressed into them and held in place snugly. By this result, the tabs 15 normally remain displaced laterally from the outer surfaces of the side members and 6, as shown in the drawing but are pressible into coplanar relationship therewith.

The holder device is applied to use in the manner to be next explained. Assuming that several articles of apparel, such as womens stockings, lingerie, etc., have been washed and that it is desired to hang these articles up to dry within the house, thearticles are first applied to the holder as indicated by the dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 1. Thatis to say, each item of apparel is engaged in one of the openings 12 of the side members 5 or 6. This is accomplished by tucking an edge portion or corner of the article through the opening 12, the gathered portion of the garment being inserted either from the rearward side of the side members 5 or 6 to raise the tab 15, or by first lifting the tab and then tucking the gatheredportion of the garment through the opening 12 from the outer side of the element, after which the tab is pressed into the corresponding opening.

Either before or after the several articles of apparel have thus been attached to the side members 5 and 6 of the holder, the latter is mounted to allow the articles to hang therefrom. To mount the holder, its side elements Sand 6 are spread apart slightly and the holder is then draped over a towel rack, shower curtain rod, the upper back edge of a chair or any other horizontal support. In other cases, the holder device may be supported by a clothes hanger by simply inserting the latter upwardly between the side elements with the hook of'the hanger projecting above the device and with certain of the straps 8 of the holder extending over the hanger, as shown in Fig. l, to cause the holder to be supportedby the hanger. The hanger 20 shown is of the conventional wire type but it will be apparent that the holder device may be supported by a clothes hanger of the common wooden type if desired, in which case the straps 8 extends over the curved wooden support of the hanger.

It is to be particularly noted that the tongues or tabs 15, due to their inherent resiliency, tend to remain in a position overlying the openings 12. By this provision, the tabs are in position to be readily pressed into the respective openings 12, so as to clamp the fabric of the frail garments lightly within the openings. Due to the soft, resilient nature of the holder, the latter is devoid of hard, sharp edges against which the delicate filaments of the sheer materials might catch to become broken and cause runs in the fabrics.

With the articles to be dried suspended from the holder in the manner explained above, air may circulate between the side elements 5 and 6, and through the perforations 9 so that drying of the articlesis expedited. After the items of apparel have dried, they are easily removed from the holder device by simply pressing the tabs 15 and then withdrawing the tucked-in ends of the articles from the openings. Thus, the present holder or hanger device serves to positively hold the items to be dried, without damage thereto, and the items are quickly and conveniently applied to the holder and removed therefrom. Besides providing a soft, pliable holder which safeguards against damage to the delicate fabrics, the holder has the advantage of being rollable 0r foldable into a small compact mass for packaging purposes or for storing in a drawer or a traveling bag.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the principles of operation of my invention, together with the holder or hanger device which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the device shown is only illustrative and that the invention may be em bodied in other forms Within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A holder for supporting light weight textile articles or the like for drying purposes comprising: a pair of resilient sheet members of pliable waterproof material, said sheet members being normally disposed in spaced, generally parallel relationship; a plurality of straps of said pliable material formed integrally with and extending transversely of said sheet members for joining the upper rmost edges of said sheet members in spaced relation to one another at a plurality of spaced locations along said uppermost edges, said straps being adapted to overlie a fixed supporting element whereby said sheet members hang from said supporting element in spaced substantially parallel relation; a plurality of mutually spaced openings disposed in staggered relation to one another in each of said sheet members, said openings being adapted for reception of supported articles to suspend the articles from the holder; resilient clamping tabs punched from said sheet members and formed integrally with said sheet members along upper edges of each of said openings, said clamping tabs normally lying within and substantially filling said openings, and having main body portions that are wider than portions thereof that are joined to the remainder of said sheet member, whereby such articles may be clamped between edges of said tabs and edges of said openings, and a plurality of further'openings interspersed between said first-mentioned openings for facilitating the circulation of air past said articles.

2. The combination of claim 1 including stiifening beads integral with and extending longitudinally of said sheet members for reinforcing said sheet members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,506,335 Brown Aug. 26, 1924 1,754,940 Freeman Apr. 15, 1930 1,999,015 Cooper Apr. 23, 1935 2,021,619 Waters et a1 Nov. 19, 1935 2,045,672 Oliveri June 30, 1936 2,211,110 F-reiler Aug. 13, 1940 2,492,226 Kohl et al. Dec. 27, 1949 2,516,311 Ganz July 25, 1950 2,605,000 Tomarin July 29, 1952 2,609,629 Hubbard Sept. 9, 1952 2,613,000 Moore Oct. 7, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 700,447 Great Britain Dec. 2, 1953 

